Model Salem Mitchell Responds To a Commenter Who Called Her “Ghetto”

Model Salem Mitchell posted a response to an Instagram commenter calling her "ghetto" after her photo appeared on Vogue's Instagram page.

In the image, Salem appears to be super chill, relaxing on the sand in a fiery red one-piece suit. She’s rocking braids and, of course, her signature freckles. While many people loved the snapshot — saying things like “You’re radiant!” and “Freckles on point” — there were a couple responses that weren’t so supportive, including a remark that described her as “ghetto.”

Posting to her Instagram Stories, Salem screenshot the comment and posted the perfect response to explain why that person's words were so harmful. “The reason black women/poc fight so hard for representation, diversity, and over cultural appropriation is because of this!" she wrote. "Everything about what I look like is considered ‘trendy’ in the media and in fashion right now. The freckles, the braids, the big lips, etc. But on a black woman it’s ghetto for NO reason and we’re tired of it.”

In an interview with Teen Vogue, she explained the motivation behind calling the commenter out. “I wanted to speak out on this particular comment because it was completely discriminatory [and] completely racist," she said. “It wasn’t, ‘I think she’s ugly’ or ‘I don’t like this photo.’ It was, ‘By looking at this woman the first way I can describe her is by calling her a ghetto person.’ Calling me ghetto or any black woman ghetto based on a photo is so dismissive of who we are as people, what we’ve accomplished, and how we carry ourselves.”

She went on to explain how it's these types of words and comments are the reason why we must continue to call our cultural appropriation and why it's wrong. “Cultural appropriation is an important topic because black and brown people are constantly demonized for their appearance, their hair, the way they dress, their use of slang, and other characteristics when in reality everything that we’re doing has set a blueprint for the culture we see today. Another thing people don’t understand is cultural appropriation is not about not wanting to share things with others — it’s not about wanting to take ownership over certain styles and deciding who gets to wear what. It’s about black and brown people not receiving the same human respect simply because of their appearance when white people are praised for it.”

Salem added that it’s “really important to speak up” because this behavior isn’t only happening to her, and it isn’t limited to online and social media spaces.

“Black women are constantly stereotyped in public and even in the workplace, and it needs to stop,” Salem says. “It takes conversations, [and] it takes sticking up for ourselves and one another to make the progress. I have a platform of over 200,000 people, and to be able to have a conversation with that large of an audience [means] we can potentially move closer to progress.”

Salem said that people can take her perspective and “expand on it” through discussions with their friends and family members. “A lot of debates or conversations I have in my own house spark off of opinions or ideas I see online,” she says.

When it comes to standing up for yourself online, Salem suggests caution and being selective about who you clap back to.

“My advice for speaking up for yourself on social media is to be extremely careful and sure of what situations deserve your time and energy,” Salem shares. “If someone is calling me ugly or they don’t like my photos, I ignore things like that. Everyone has opinions — whether they’re negative or positive — and we’re all ugly to somebody so situations like those aren’t really worthy of my time.”

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But when she feels that the negativity could potentially harm multiple people, that’s how she knows it’s time to step in.

“It’s really important to speak up when the issues are probably affecting more than just me,” she says. “When people make negative comments about freckles, I speak up because although I’m confident, other young girls with freckles might see those nasty comments and feel bad about their own skin. When people say ignorant things like the ‘ghetto’ comment, I speak up because I know other girls are hearing [it] in their own lives too. Overall it’s best to save your energy and speak up when you know it’ll benefit more than just your own ego.”

Needless to say, Salem is completely comfortable in her skin, and she isn’t here for people trying to use her to perpetuate discriminatory language or behavior.